Raising Kya
by akiko-dono
Summary: The sequel series to Confused, this story will follow the trials and tribulations of raising Kya as the first Fire Princess with a Waterbender for a mother.


"Zuko. We talked about this. What was the _one thing_ I asked you to do?"

"Not to freak out."

She nodded, face showing her complete lack of sympathy for him. "Exactly. And what did you just do?"

Zuko sighed and hung his head. "I freaked out—"

"You _freaked out_! I'm the one of us with a _human being_ growing inside me and _I'm_ not freaking out! So why are you freaking out?!"

"Because that thing just swooped in out of nowhere! It could be carrying diseases!"

"It was a messenger hawk."

"But it could've been a viper bat! Or a lion vulture-!"

"-it was _Sokka's_ _messenger hawk_. With a message. From Sokka. We're across from the aviary, I don't know how you didn't see this coming."

Zuko carried on as if he hadn't heard her, completely solid in his belief that he was in the right. "See, this is exactly why we should take the palanquin when we go places."

"We're crossing the gardens, not setting off on some grand expedition!"

"So our adventure to find you sea prunes was an expedition, was it?"

Katara rolled her eyes, continuing down the winding path that passed by the turtle duck pond. "Look, it's not my fault that the only Water Tribe restaurants in the Fire Nation wouldn't know good sea prunes if they pricked them in the face. And the palanquin was _your idea._ "

Zuko's amusement with his wife's cultural cuisine crept into his tone. "So naturally going to _every single restaurant_ in the Fire Nation was the solution?"

Katara folded her hands protectively over her stomach. "Hey. Baby wants sea prunes, baby's gonna get sea prunes."

"Which you later threw up, I might add."

"Thanks to the incessant rocking of your palanquin, so do not even go there with me, mister," she quipped, pausing on the path to take his hands in hers. "The point is that I am eight months pregnant, not a glass figurine. And the only thing I need from you is to…?" She looked at him expectantly, trailing off and waiting for him to finish her sentence.

He narrowed his eyes and begrudgingly complied. "…to not freak out."

"Exactly. Because what happens when you freak out?"

She let go of one of his hands and gestured with her finger as he spoke, like she was conducting an orchestra of good opinion. Zuko sighed, answering in a sing-song voice. "It freaks _you_ out, and that is far more dangerous than any of the idiotic things I'm imagining."

Katara finally smiled at her husband, taking the smallest amount of pity on him, relishing his well-memorized recitation of her entirely reasonable request. "Exactly. So how about we read the message from Sokka instead of taking me to the doctor again and asking for remedies that are neither necessary nor real?"

Zuko grumbled under his breath, so Katara didn't catch all of it, but it sounded vaguely like, "I thought she might have something to keep the spider wasps away…"

Choosing not to go reopen the case of "was it really a spider wasp?" again, Katara tucked her arm in Zuko's and lead him to the aviary. When they arrived, a servant had already laid out the messenger hawk's favorite feed, holding the scroll outstretched in his hand.

"Fire Lady Katara, it is addressed to you, from your sister Suki."

Katara's eyes shone with happiness. "Wonderful! Thank you."

She unfurled the scroll to read, and as she did her face began to fall. Zuko's brow furrowed, worried by her reaction. It wasn't a long letter, but whatever it contained did not seem to be sitting well with Katara. When she reached the end, her eyes closed as she took a deep breath in. She appeared to be trying to calm herself, but when her eyes opened, it didn't look as though it had worked.

"Katara? What is it?"

She crossed the aviary to find a bench, resting a hand on her very pregnant belly as she sat. "You know how Gran-Gran was going to stay with us for a while when the baby comes?"

A feeling of dread cut off Zuko's air. He sat next to his wife, a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Is she alright? Can she not make it?"

"Oh she's fine. She's still coming. She's just no longer coming…alone."

Zuko froze. "You don't mean…?"

"Yeah. I do mean. Suki wanted to give me a heads up so we could prepare everyone."

"How many?"

"No no, Zuko. Not how many. All."

" _All?_ "

"All. All of them are coming."

Zuko whistled low, shaking his head. "I thought the whole reason your grandmother was coming from the North with Pakku was to throw them off the trail."

"Didn't work out that way."

Zuko nodded, staring straight ahead. "So…how long?"

Katara shrugged, patting the place where the child was kicking to comfort her. "It'll be a race between this little one and their ships, but not long. Everyone will most likely be here for the birth."

"Fan _tastic_ , _"_ his tone betraying his true feelings on that subject. He stood, trying to adjust to a more positive attitude. "You know what? It's fine. We'll make some more space. We live in a palace after all, we'll just have the staff clean out an extra room."

"An extra hall would be better. Gran-Gran and Pakku can share, but my dad will need his own place though-"

"Hakoda's coming?"

"-and you know Toph will cause a ruckus if she's not outside somewhere or at least surrounded by stone-"

"Wait, how did Toph find out?"

"And Aang and his wife will need a place to stay with their little one, they'll definitely prefer something with lots of windows—"

"Aang's bringing a baby now too?"

"Well sure. And you know Suki's pregnant; she may even give birth while she's here, but that shouldn't be a problem, she's done check ups with my doctor before."

Zuko turned in amazement. "Why are Sokka and Suki not staying with _their own doctor_?"

"Well once they heard that Mai and Ty Lee were coming up from Kyoshi Island they decided to share transportation—"

" _Mai and Ty Lee?!_ Katara, who _isn't_ coming might be a shorter list!"

Katara rolled her eyes, toying with the scroll in her hands. "I'm confused by what you thought I meant when I said 'all'."

Zuko was pacing at this point, unable to stay still while planning what was about to be the biggest unintentional party of recent memory. "Well that settles it. I'm not sure I can handle all this while doing that one thing you asked me to do."

"Huh?"

He shrugged. "Yep. It's too late. I'm freaking out."

Katara laughed nervously, rising in the rocking motion necessitated by her overly pregnant state to reach her husband. She moved into his arms, resting her head on his chest. "It's okay. Me too."


End file.
